"Well, the good news is, you won't have to wait ten years to come of age," Doctor Crusher told him later on. "I'd put your physical age about where you started, nine or ten years old." She frowned and walked over to a panel and pulled up his DNA file. Picard, Riker, the Doctor, and Amy all looked on. "The bad news is he was also very right. It would take years, decades even, for me to unravel your DNA and discover a way to turn you back without possibly damaging your past regenerations. You would sooner come of age."
"So what are we going to do?" Amy inquired.
"Well, you do still have the TARDIS," Riker pointed out. "Couldn't you just jump ahead fifty years, find the answer, then come back?"
"No, that's a stupid idea," the Doctor scoffed. "And it wouldn't work. Doctor Crusher would need to have access to these files for all fifty years; as soon as I pull out, the interface breaks and I'd have to go ahead another hundred years or so. Now, that's assuming that Doctor Crusher continues this work non-stop and inspires someone else to carry on the project, looking for a way to age a little boy, a mythical Time Lord by all accounts, who is just going to one day jump back into their time a century and a half later. Failing that, if the project is dropped or discarded, the answer may never be found."
"Is there any way you could keep the interface locked in even through a pulling out?" Picard inquired. "You can travel through all time and space, surely there must be a way to stay attached to a certain point in time?"
The Doctor furrowed his brows. "You know, I've noticed that every time you ask me to do the impossible, you cite my ability to travel through time and space, or else remind me that I am a Time Lord. Thank you, I quite know who I am, what I am, where I'm from, and what I can do. But just because I'm better than you doesn't mean I have all the answers."
"Doctor!" Amy hissed.
"Well, it's true!"
"No, it's all right," Picard told her. He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Doctor Crusher. And you, Doctor, are welcome to stay as long as you would like; I can have your quarters ready immediately if you wish."
The Doctor sighed, defeated. "Thank you, Captain, that would be most kind." He looked at Amy. "Well, didn't I promise you a vacation aboard a luxury ship?" Back at the Captain. "I suppose we might stay a while. Time and space will still be there in the morning, and I have to admit, I've never been aboard a galaxy class starship before. Actually, I have, but not as a guest. Every other time, someone is usually trying to kill me."
"Well, I can assure you, you are safe and quite welcome here."
He looked ready to say more, but then, "Bridge to Picard." It was the Klingon, Worf.
Picard tapped his badge. "Yes, Mr. Worf, go ahead."
"We are receiving a distress call from a Klingon outpost in the Galorin System; they claim they are under attack and need immediate assistance. We are the closest starship."
"Set a course; I'm on my way." Picard tapped off and turned to Riker. "Commander, will you show the Doctor to his quarters and then join me on the bridge?" He nodded once to the Doctor and Amy. "If you'll excuse me."
"Of course," Amy said.
The Doctor pursed his lips. "No problem. Commander?"
"As I explained to Miss Pond earlier," Riker began, "you are welcome to come and go as you please, though I hardly think that presents a challenge. Anything you need, you can ask the computer. We have holodecks, recreational courts, and many activities to take part in if you so desire. Ah, here we are." They entered the guest quarters. "This is the food replicator; it can make thousands of dishes from all over the galaxy. This is the comm. if you require assistance. And I'm sure you can figure out the rest on your own."
"Thank you, Commander, I'm sure I can," the Doctor told him.
"After this rescue mission, the captain may want to meet with you."
"Ah, truly? I'm honored. And I won't miss the appointment."
It was a dismissal and Riker took the hint. As soon as he was gone, the Doctor headed to the small personal computer on the desk in the living area. Guests would never be allowed anything more than directions to the holodecks or the recreational courts, but he was the Doctor, and he had a sonic screwdriver.
"Computer, show me the interface between the TARDIS and Doctor Crusher's computer in sick bay," he commanded, waving the sonic at the screen.
No alarms were raised or security protocols activated. Instead, the screen was brought up. He watched Crusher bring up different files, none of them related to his predicament. Most of them were to ready scanners, program them to receive Klingon patients. Then activity on the screen stopped and the Doctor felt the ship slow. All right, so patients would be gathered in and scanned and the doctors would be busy.
"Computer, open a secondary link," the Doctor began, waving the sonic again, "and set up a second interface with the TARDIS medical database."
"Interface established," the computer reported.
"Show me."
The screen popped up, revealing the last work of Doctor Crusher. She had at least found the file containing the scan of his latest DNA, but that was the extent of her progress.
"Sorry, Doctor Crusher," the Doctor whispered, more to himself, "but I can't jump fifty years and I don't have four years, three months, and seventeen days. Maybe you will not be able to make heads or tails of this, but I will."
Amy paced around her quarters. She ignored the food she had "replicated" and placed on the table. She wasn't hungry or waiting for anyone; mostly she had done it just to say she had. And it was actually kind of fun. But now she was a bit bored. She hated to go out to the holodecks Commander Riker had spoken of; she would only feel guilty about going out and having fun while there was a crisis happening right outside her window.
And it literally was. When the ship had slowed around the outpost, she had a room facing it. The outpost had taken a beating. Some chunks had been blown out, revealing the inner corridors and panels. Large pieces and metal floated freely in space, littered occasionally by a body or body parts. She turned away from the window and headed into the bedroom.
Just as she sat down on the blanket, white light flooded in the living area, casting shadows into the bedroom. An explosion? Curious, she stood and, shielding her eyes, looked out.
"No," she breathed.
The Doctor watched the strand of DNA expand and various markers pop up. Eleven marker sets for hair color showed up. One of them was blinking, indicating his current hair, and ten seemed grayed out, his past hair. In the overall scheme, his past lives were buried deeper in the DNA, as if his past lives were used to build his future regenerations.
He rubbed his eyes and leaned back. Hair color was easy; he needed so much more. Even as he was thinking this, the doorbell chimed.
"Yes?" he asked loudly.
Amy ran in, breathing heavily.
"There you are!" she gasped. "Doctor, you have to see this!"
"I'm busy, Amy" he whined.
But she wasn't taking no for an answer. Taking advantage of his smaller size, she rushed forward, seized him by the arm, and dragged him out. He could only go along with her back to her quarters where she had a view of the outpost destruction.
"Look!"
She pointed to a spot just beyond the outpost, a light in space, moving closer.
"The crack," the Doctor whispered.
"It followed us?" Amy wondered.
"It's a crack in space and time; it will be everywhere at every time. So it is not following us, per se, but the exact opposite." He frowned. "Regardless, it's not something I care to stick around. Come on!"
He darted toward the door, Amy following.
"Is that what destroyed the outpost?" she inquired.
"No, no, the crack doesn't do this kind of damage; it merely consumes, erases. The outpost was under attack, and it must have drawn the crack here to this time."
Just as they reached the door, Q flashed in and blocked the way.
"Not now, Q," the Doctor growled, pushing him aside.
"My goodness, we are in a hurry," Q observed, following them through the corridors to the turbo lift. "My, my, my, Doctor, how is the captain going to see you? Why, you'll just be a little boy throwing a temper tantrum. And the captain hates children on the bridge."
The Doctor ignored him and practically threw himself into the turbo lift. Amy followed gingerly and Q just flashed in beside them even after the doors closed.
"Not now, Q!" the Doctor snarled.
"You know what that crack is, Doctor. I know you know. But the captain doesn't know. Even if you tell him, you are still in a child's body."
"Regardless, I have an obligation to warn him."
"Ah, yes, do no harm and all that." Q sighed dramatically and leaned against the bulkhead. "Well, as long as you are being all noble and stuff, I guess I can take a little time out of my day to help out a family member in need."
"Commander Data," Picard said, catching sight of the light beyond the outpost, "what is that?"
"Scanning…it appears to be a rift in time space," the android reported.
"A rift? Is it dangerous?"
"It is moving toward the outpost, Captain, but does not appear to be doing any sort of harm. All indications say it did not do this to the outpost. It may have been created from the attack."
"Captain!"
Everyone turned to see the turbo lift doors open and a grown Time Lord exiting through them, Amy following.
"Captain, we have to get out of here!" he told him desperately.
"Doctor, you seem to have encountered Q again," Picard said almost apologetically.
"Yes, but that's not the problem. There is a crack in time out there."
"Yes, it's right there; we can see it."
"Captain, I know you've encountered rifts in time before. It has allowed you to travel to places even beyond where I can go, beyond where anyone should be allowed to go. But this is not that kind of rift. This crack is not a door; it is an eraser, a rewind button. If anything gets close to it, it is taken out of existence, never to have ever been seen."
"Then how come you know of it?" Riker inquired.
"Because most of my time is spent in existence outside of time, and I can observe these things. But that is not the point. If you were to throw a wrench into the crack, it would vanish forever. You would never have recalled ever seeing that wrench. Ever. And you would not remember throwing the wrench into the rift because that wrench didn't exist for you to throw in. Now then, first, are all the survivors collected?"
"Yes, they are," Picard said.
"Good. Now then, take a quick scan of the outpost and then-"
"What outpost?"
The Doctor couldn't stop a slight jaw drop. "What?"
"There is no outpost here."
The Doctor glanced at Amy who wore the same expression. They turned as one. Where the outpost had been only moments before, now only empty space remained. The crack seemed to idle over the empty spot.
"No outpost…" Amy breathed. They turned back to the captain. "Then where did you get all the survivors? What about the Klingons we just rescued?"
"Doctor, Miss Pond, they've always been here, at least since you have been here. We rescued them two days ago from a bird of prey that was badly damaged in a fight with Romulans and are taking them to the Neutral Zone to deliver them to their own people." The captain said this like he'd explained it half a dozen times to him and such occurrences were totally normal. "Now, what were you saying about an outpost in this area?"
"Captain, may I have a word with you?" the Doctor asked irritably.
Picard nodded graciously and gestured. "In my ready room."
"So, you're saying that there was an outpost here that was destroyed," Picard said slowly. The Doctor nodded. "And we responded to its distress call, and that is where we got all the survivors?" Another nod. "But there was a crack in time and space that completely erases whatever it touches, makes it so it never existed. It…consumed the outpost and now no one in the whole universe – except you – knew about its existence."
"Only myself and Amy," the Doctor confirmed. "Right now it's hovering over the spot where the outpost used to be, but it will be on the move again, and I don't want to be here when it comes this way."
The captain sighed. "I don't know about this supposed outpost of yours, Doctor. I really don't know." He stood and headed toward the door. "But we've lingered here long enough and should be on our way to the Neutral Zone to deliver the survivors."
"Captain," the Doctor said just before Picard left. "Just why were we lingering here in the first place?"
Picard blinked in surprise as if he'd just been talked back to by a cadet. Finally he said, "You call yourself a Doctor, now get down to sick bay and help the wounded."
The Doctor nodded humbly. "Aye, Captain."
"Sick bay," the Doctor ordered in the turbo lift. He leaned heavily against the bulkhead, arms folded, mulling over the situation. Amy watched helplessly.
"Well, that went well." Q flashed into the lift with them. "And for the record, I remember the outpost."
"Oh, go away," the Doctor said tiredly, rolling his eyes.
"Can I get a ride now?"
"No."
"My goodness, Doctor, I gave you your body back so you might be taken seriously, and this is how you repay me?"
"If I thank you, will you go away?"
"Sure."
"All right then." The Doctor stood, faced Q, straightened his jacket and his bow tie and said as humbly as he could muster, "Thank you, Q."
Q put a hand to his chest and his face shifted into something like teary-eyed love. "Oh, Doctor, I am just so touched by your sincerity. And for that, I'll even let you stay this way while you help the poor survivors." He grinned. "The charity of my long-lost cousins is contagious." His expression turned horrified. "That is a frightening thought."
"Even more frightening is the fact that you're still here."
The lift stopped and the doors slid open.
"More frightening than that is what you'll find in sick bay," Q threatened. "Good luck, Doctor."
"I don't need anything from you, Q," the Doctor hissed. "Come along, Pond."
"I should really just go back to my quarters," Amy said meekly. "I'm not a nurse, not to humans, never mind Klingons."
"Just follow my lead."
Amy glanced back to the lift where Q still stood. She quickly figured it would be better just to follow the Doctor's lead. They entered sick bay where the doctors and nurses hurried about in a frenzy. Crusher glanced at them only briefly.
"Oh, Doctor, I'm sorry I haven't gotten-" Crusher began wistfully, then stopped. "Oh, you're back to normal. I assume."
"Yes, for the moment. Courtesy of Q. But that's not important right now; where are the patients?"